Metering and conveying system



May 30, 1944.

E. P. DRAKE ET AL 2,350,020

METERING AND CONVEYING SYSTEM Filed May}, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l y 1944-E. P. DRAKE ETAL' 2,350,020

METERING AND CONVEYING SYSTEM Filed May 3, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Zlwuvwfoo Eon/A20 E DRAKE,

Q50 ":7! ALBE T); v MAL/AME 25461.5

Patented May 30, 1944 METERING AND CONVEYING SYSTEM Edward P; Drake andFred J. Alberty, Los Angeles, and William Herbert Kagley, Lindsay,Calif., assignors to Lindsay Ripe Olive Company, Lindsay, Calif., acorporation Application May 3, 1941, Serial No. 391,744

11 Claims.

This application is for improvements over the invention disclosed andclaimed in Patent No. 2,205,397, granted June 25, 1940, for Automaticpitting machine, and also of the copending application of Edward P.Drake, Serial No. 245,431,

. filed December 13, 1938, for Automatic olive pitting machine, and is acontinuation in part of the copending application of Edward P.-

of fruit and other articles and by our reference.

to olives as an illustration of its use we do not intend to limit theinvention in any way. It will be apparent as the description progressesthat certain features of our system have their greatest utility in thehandling of olives because of the oblong character of that fruit, but itwill also be observed that the same system may be employed for handlingcherries, plums, apricots, and various other fruits and for metering andconveying other articles. For convenience, however, in description andto bring out all the features of novelty and utility we will describethe system in connection with the handling of olives and particularlywith reference to an automatic olive pitting machine.

Our present metering and conveyor system is intended primarily for usewith or as a part of amachine adapted to handle a continuous "supply ofolives which may be from boxes or any other bulk delivered into ahopper, to transfer from the hopper a continuous flow of olives to ametering and conveying device which spaces their subsequent travel, andto position the olives in the region of a die and punch mechanism.

An object of the present invention is to provide water jets toaccelerate the travel of olives in themetering and conveyor system.

Afurther object is to provide water jets in a metering and conveyorsystem for accelerating the travel of olives from a plurality of troughsor passages into a single trough or passage for further handling.

A further object is to provide in a metering and conveyor system of thecharacter described water jets adapted to play against olives which aretemporarily held behind metering and spacing fingers whereby when theolivesare released by such fingers they are immediately impelled by theforce of the water to move on beyond such fingers.

A still further object is to provide in a device of the characterdescribed water jets adapted to direct water under pressure against theolives in such a position as to cause any olives which are on end toimmediately topple into a position with their longitudinal axeshorizontal to iacilia tate alignment of the olives in subsequent travel.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the further description inthe specification.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a section of our metering and conveying system, taken online l-I of Fig. 3.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of one of the units in themetering and conveying system showing a pair of troughs merging into asingle trough and further illustrating the direction of the water jets.

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken on the line 33 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 4-4 ofFigure 1, with certain of the operating parts omitted to more clearlyillustrate the water jets.

Referring to the drawings, we provide a tray 41 preferably mounted in amanner to permit it to vibrate, and coupled with vibratory means, notshown. In the form illustrated this tray includes four olive passages42, through which olives 0 are caused to travel by the vibration of thetray or by inclination thereof, toward a metering device 3|.

The purpose of this metering device is to receive the olives from thefour delivery passages, space their subsequent travel and divert theminto two inclined positioning chutes or troughs I00 which are part of aspacing and positioning mechanism 32. It has been found that four of thedelivery passages are advisable to assure a continuous supply of olivesto two positioning chutes. Preliminary to describing the mechanism forspacing the subsequent travel of the olives after leaving the vibratingtray it is preferable to describe a subordinate part of the meteringmechanism or device through which the olives travel as they are meteredand where they are diverted from the four channels or passages describedinto the two inclined chutes. This subordinate part of the meteringdeviceis termed a magazine numbered llll. It comprises in part adownwardly, steeply inclined extension a of the vibrating tray M inwhich there are walls I04 forming four olive passages 42a which areextensions of the passages 42 in the vibrating tray 4 I.

The extension 4Ia is preferably welded at 4!!) to the lower face of thevibrating tray at the forward end thereof and forms the lower part ofthe magazine I'0I. Its walls I04 rise slightly less than half of thetotal height of the olive passages in the magazine MI. The upper wallboundaries of the olive passages in the magazine are provided byextension walls I06 of the olive chutes I00. These extensions I06 arerigidly fixed to a cover I01, which is formed 'of one piecelongitudinally slotted as at I08 to afford lateral adjustment at theupper end for the purpose of regulating the width of the magazinepassages. The material of the cover is suflicient- 1y resilient to besprung under action of a screw III.

Each adjacent pair of the olive passages 42a in the magazine merges intoa single open passage in the olive chutes, the latter being subsequentlydescribed in more detail.

There is preferably no physical connection between the lower extension4Ia of the vibrating tray which make up the lower part of the magazine,and the overlying extensions I of the olive chutes and. the cover I01which comprise the upper part of the magazine, there being preferablyacontinuous vibration of the extension Ma when the machine is inoperation while the upper part'of the magazine remains stationary. Thelatter is supported on an extension FI of a main frame F. The bottom ofthe passages 42a are in alignment with the troughs or channels of theolive chutes I00 but as is evident are slightly separated therefrom.Diversion of the olives-from -the-four passages of the vibrating trayextension 41a to the two passages in the 'olive'chutes occurs in theregion of the junction between the vibrating extension M11 and the upperend or terminus of the troughs or channels of the olive chutes I00.

The metering device has four similar units, one 'toserve' each deliverypassage 42a, a complete description of one of which units will sufficerMounted on the extension PI of the frame is a stationary shaft II5.Journaled to rock on this shaft is a retaining finger I I6 and acooperating holding finger I I1. The finger I I6 is in the form of acrank having arms Ga and I I6b. On the arm II6b is a tip N60. The tip 60is in the form of a 2 which ismounted at the end of the arm 'I I6b bymeans of a bolt or pin H8. The tip I I6c may be adjustably positionedfor olives of different sizes and for different working conditions byloosening the bolt H0, rotating the tip I Ili'to thedesired position,and re-tightening the bolt. The arm II6a is provided with a roller uswhich makes contact with a cam I20. The tip II 60 engages the olives inturn as they enter the passage 42a of the magazine I0 I, permitting themto enter one at a time into the space between the tip I I60 and theholding finger I I1. The rise and "fall of the-tip IIBc, effected byaction of the cam l 20,secures this function. The tip IIBc should be soadjusted that there is room for only one olive between the tip II6c andthe finger II1. After an olive has been allowed to pass tip I I6c itlodges momentarily against the finger II1. This finger II 1 is also inthe form of a crank provided with an arm I25 which has a roller I26bearing on a cam I21, whichcauses a rise and fall of the finger II 1alternating with the rise and fall of the tip 60.

The action of the tip H60 and the finger II1 occurs through an enlargedextension I28 of the slot I08 in the cover I01.

There being an olive lodged against finger I I1, the timing of the camsis such that when tip 60 falls into the position shown in Figure 3,finger I I1 rises into the position also shown in Figure 3. An olivemoving into the passage 42a is thus retained there while the olivemomentarily lodged against finger H1 is released and rolls downwardly bygravity and under the influence of the water jet more particularlyhereinafter described, and is simultaneously diverted into the chute I00where it is caught by a spacer I30, the details of which are not a partof the invention claimed in the present application.

This action of the retaining finger I I6 and the holding finger II1prevents more than one olive at a time passing the finger II1, which isimportant to the subsequent handling of the olives.

Springs I 3| yieldably urge the retaining finger H6 and the holdingfinger I I1 against the respective cams H9 and I20. The springs areanchored at one end to a rod I32 which is mounted on the frame extensionFI.

The cams are keyed to a shaft I which is journaled in the frameextension Fl. Each cam is designed with two raised portions, thuscausing the finger it actuates to rise and fall twice with eachrevolution. The raised portions of the cam I20 are offset 90 from thoseof the cams I21, the cams being secured to the shaft I35 in pairs forthe cooperative action of a unit consisting of a retaining finger H6 anda holding finger H1. The shaft I35 is driven by means to be subsequentlydescribed. The timing provides alternate releasing of olives fromadjacent passages 420 into the chutes I00 at a rate to deposit one oliveupon each spacer I30 as the spacer passes.

Shaft I35 and consequently cams I20 and I21 are driven by the followingmeans: An electric motor, not shown, or any other power source is usedto drive an endless chain I60 which in turn rotates a sprocket I62 fixedto a shaft I63 journaled in the frame extension FI. At one end of theshaft I63 is a gear I64 which meshes with an intermediate gear I65 andthis in turn meshes with a gear I66 keyed to the cam shaft I35.

The chutes I00 each comprise a trough having vertical side walls I10 anda bottom I1I U shaped in cross section near the upper end. The width ofthe trough is slightly greater than the'length of. the largest olives tobe pitted.

Supported on the rod I32, which is located in the region of the meteringmechanism, are fluid supply devices I80. Each comprises a hose I8I, avalve I82, and a chamber I83. We provide such a device over each passage42a.

The chamber I83 is formed by the cover I 01 of the magazine, and ahousing I84 which may be conveniently tapped and threaded at I85 toprovide for a plug I86 which can be removed for clean-out purposes.

The lower part of the chamber is provided with one or more smallpassages such as shown at I81 and I 88, which may, if desired, betapered. In the form illustrated Irhave shown two such passages. Theaxes of these passages are directed to cause streams of water or brineor other fluid indicated by the letter W to converge as illustrated, ata point which is central of the chute I00 and at or near the bottom ofthe chute. The

toward the spacing fingers I30.

to be angled inwardly and downwardly; and the four passages-of twocomplementary devices are soarranged as to cause all four streamsofWater or brine to'converge at one point as illustrated in Figures? and4.

Water or brine under pressure from anysuitable source is suppliedthrough the hose IBI and is delivered in the form of jets or spraysthrough 'zontal position, and asthe jetsare playing upon the olivesfrom'above with-a downwardly and inwardly directed path, the streamsthemselves tend to roll the olives barrel-like down the trough Otherimportant functions of these hydraulicstreams are'to provide lubricationin the magazine passages and the chutes Hill and to forcibly propel theolives I from opposite passages 42 into the single chute I00. While theaction of the olives in rolling down through the inclined ends of thepassages 42a and being diverted into the chutes It!!! will occur bygravity, we have found that the use of hydraulic streams by the meansand in the manner described vastly speeds up the desired movement of theolives through the magazine and into the chutes behind the positioningor spacing fingers I30, and the disposition of the olives with theirlongitudinal axes in a horizontal plane.

This speeding up has enabled us to step up the production rate of theentire olive pitting machine as illustrated and described in our patentreferred to, and has materially contributed to the efficiency of themachine.

Although we have herein shown and described our invention in what wehave conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, itisrecognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope ofour invention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosedherein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as toembrace any and all equivalent structures and methods. Thus, theparticular form of fluid manifolds, and nozzles, may be varied withinthe scope of our invention. Moreover, the essence of the inventionresides in the fluid propelling means in relation to the conveyor troughor passages and chutes, irrespective of the details of other mechanismsuch as the metering fingers. By the term fluid, we mean to include air,steam or other gases, as well as liquids, as broadly as the word iscommonly defined, depending upon the particular use to which themechanism is put. Our reference to water or brine is by way of exampleonly.

Having described our invention What we claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. In a fruit pitting apparatus the combination of: mechanisms adaptedto receive fruit from bulk and deliver individual pieces thereof atregularly spaced intervals for further treatment comprising a pluralityof substantially adjacent fruit passages merging into a single fruitpassage, and means for accelerating the movement of fruit from theplurality of passages into the single passage comprising fluid nozzlesin the first named fruit passages adapted to direct jets of fluid underpressure against fruit passing therethrough substantially'in thedirection taken by the fruit in passing from the first named pas-- sagesintothe singlepassage. 1 i

2. In an apparatus for conveying rollable articles, a plurality ofpassages merging into a single passage, and means for accelerating themove-- ment of articles from the plurality'of'passages into the singlepassage comprising fluid nozzles in the first named passages adapted todirect jets of fluid under pressure against articles passingtherethrough substantially in the direction to be taken by the articlesin passing from the'first named passages into the single passage. 1

3. In an apparatus for conveyingrollable articles, a plurality ofinclined passages merging into a single passage, and means foraccelerating the gravity movement of articles from the plurality ofpassages into the single passage comprising fluid nozzles inth'efirst'narned passagesadapted to direct jets of fluid under pressureagainst articles passing therethrough substantially in the direction tobe taken by the articles in passing'f'rom the first named passages intothe single passage.

4; In' an apparatus for conveying"o blong'roll able articles, aplurality of passages merging into a single passage, and meansf-or'acceleratingthe movement of articles from the plurality of passagesinto the single passage and for toppling any articles on end into proneposition comprising fluid nozzles in the first named passages adapted todirect jets of fluid under pressure against the upper part of saidarticles passing therethrough substantially in the direction to be takenby the articles in passing from the first named passages into the singlepassage.

5. In an apparatus for metering and convey ing rollable articles, aplurality of passages merging into a single passage, an intermittentlyoperating holding finger in each of said first named passage foralternately holding and releasing individual articles, fluid nozzles inthe first named passages adapted to direct jets of fluid under pressureagainst said article while the same is lodged against the holding fingerto accelerate movement of said article past the holding finger when thelatter releases the article, and means to supply fluid under pressure tosaid nozzles.

6. In an apparatus for metering and conveying rollable articles, aplurality of inclined passages merging into a single passage, anintermittently operating holding finger in each of said first namedpassages for alternately holding and releasing individual articles toroll by gravity, fluid nozzles in the first named passages adapted todirect jets of fluid under pressure against said article while the sameis lodged against the hold-' ing finger to accelerate movement of saidarticle past the holding finger when the latter releases the article,and means tosupply fluid under pressure to said nozzles.

7. In an apparatus for conveying rollable articles, a plurality ofpassages merging into a single passage, and means for accelerating themovement of articles from the plurality of passages into the singlepassage comprising fluid nozzles in the first named passages adapted todirect jets of fluid under pressure against articles passingtherethrough substantially in the direction to be taken by the articlesin passing from the first named passages into the single passage anddownwardly toward the lower part of said single passage.

8. In an apparatus for metering and conveying rollable articles, aconveyor passage, an intermittently operating holding finger in saidpasage for alternately holding and releasing indifi idual articles, afluid nozzle in the passage and .-means associated with the nozzleadapted to di- .rect a continuous jet of fluid under pressure againsteach article while the same is lodged against. the holding fingersubstantially in the direction to be taken by the article in its furthertravel to impel-movement of the article past the holding finger when thelatter releases the article. V

9. An apparatus for conveying rollable articles, comprising, a pluralityof passages merging into a single passage, and means for acceleratingthe movement of articles from the plurality of passages into the singlepassage comprising a fluid nozzle in each of the first named passagesadapted to direct a jet of fluid under pressure against articles passingtherethrough substantially in the direction to be taken by the articlesin passing from the first named passage into the single passage. I

10. In an apparatus for conveying oblong roll- :able articles, a passagecomprising a trough for-'med'with a floor over which said articles mayroll, means to deliver articles into said passage, and means foraccelerating the movement of articles along said passage and fortoppling any articles on end into prone position comprising a fluidnozzle communicating with said passage and positioned to direct a jet offluid under pressure into said passage initially above the floor at aheight sufiicient for the jet to first encounter said articles above themedial vertical point of the surface thereof.

11. In an apparatus for'conveying oblong rollable articles, a passagecomprising a trough formed with a floor over which said articles mayroll, means to deliver articles into said passage, and means foraccelerating the movement of articles along said passage and fortoppling any articles on end into prone position comprising a fluidnozzle communicating with said passage and positioned to direct a jet offluid under pressure into said passage initially above the floor .at aheight sufiicient for the jet to first encounter said articles above the,medial vertical point of the surface thereof, and said jet beingdirected substantially in the direction to be taken by the articles intheir travel through said passage and diagonally downward toward thefloor of said passage.

EDWARD P. DRAKE. FRED J. ALBER'I'Y. WILLIAM HERBERT KAGLEY.

